The Demigod’s Legacy

Six hundred years after losing his wife and son to his cousin’s deadly scheme, the demigod cougar shifter known as Tito Perez still refuses to take a mate. He couldn’t protect his family in pre-colonial Tenochtitlan where Aztec gods freely roamed, and he won’t risk endangering another in modern New Mexico.

Too bad he doesn’t know he already has one from a tender affair with a sweet bar waitress he abandoned.

After waiting five years for Tito to return to his senses, December Farmer tracks her daughter’s absentee father to the small town of Maria, New Mexico, to make him step up, but he’s not the only one in for a shock. The town is overrun with supernatural beings and, apparently, her daughter, Cruz, is one of them.

December isn’t sure she can stomach being the mate of an immortal shapeshifter, but the stakes are higher for Tito. His cousin intends, yet again, to take away the only things Tito holds dear, and this time, Tito may have no choice but to cast his precious humanity aside and become the unflinching warrior he’s never wanted to be.

by Holley Trent

ParanormalSensuality Level: Sensual

Author Bio:
Holley Trent is a Carolina girl gone west. She writes contemporary and paranormal romances that have both humor and heat.

As December Farmer braced herself in a New Mexican town she didn’t know and on the front stoop at an address she’d gone to incredible lengths to get, she swore.

She’d been doing that for five minutes—raising her hand to depress the doorbell, only to mutter, “Rat bastard,” or similar pejoratives before dropping her hand.

Shame knocked her courage back again and again and she’d needed the better part of three months to muster up what little bit of fortitude she had. Desperation had finally prompted her to make the drive up from Tucson. Hand-me-downs and a sofa bed weren’t enough for her daughter anymore. She needed more things—more space, more clothes, more money.

December raised her hand to the doorbell once more and, on a sigh, dropped it.

“Why is this so damn hard?”

She already knew the answer. She was turning into the beggar she’d never wanted to be.

In the almost ten years since she and her sister, Alicia, had been forced out of their parents’ home, she’d never begged for anything from anyone. When she couldn’t get a job, she’d found things to sell, and Alicia had always done the same.

They’d gotten by, but getting by had been so much easier before December had a baby by a frequent customer at the bar where she still worked.

She’d waited five years for Tito to return to Tucson. She’d given him her number and hadn’t thought to get his in return, because she’d never had to with any other man. When he didn’t call, she’d passed messages through his friends, but still didn’t hear a peep from him.

The time for discretion had passed. Tito couldn’t possibly ignore her if she was standing right on his doorstep. She’d tracked him down like a dog that hadn’t been microchipped, and she planned to let him know he was a dog, too. She simply hadn’t decided yet if she’d do that before or after she introduced him to his daughter.

She glanced over her shoulder at her little coupe parked at the curb. Cruz was in the backseat with her head against the window. The child had waged an admirable battle to stay awake but had finally succumbed to the combination of heat, boredom, and Benadryl. Her sinuses didn’t like New Mexico any more than December liked why they had to be there.

“Keep sleepin’, baby. We’re going home soon.”

She took a deep breath, brought her fist up to the weatherworn green door, and told herself to knock hard—that banging on the wood would be cathartic.

“Shit.” She pounded her thigh instead, took a step back, and paced.

She’d never been the confrontational sort. Alicia, older by four years, had always been the more aggressive of the two of them. They’d both had to finish growing up quickly, but Alicia had kept December safe after their parents told them to leave—after their parents had chosen to believe the lies of an outsider over their children’s pleas. They’d given up their parenting responsibilities too readily, but December wasn’t going to let Tito shirk his any longer.

Cruz wasn’t going to suffer the way December had.

She picked her fist up again, straightened her spine, and took a deep breath.

“You’re gonna do right by her. I swear, you will.” She banged on the door hard before she could change her mind, and then she paced while she waited.

THIS WEEK’S TOP TITLES

AMAZING DEAL!

From August 7th through August 20th, MAKING IT REAL by Synithia Williams will be on sale at all major e-retailers for just 99 cents!

Neecie offers tall, handsome, bad boy Kareem a deal: If he’ll pretend to be her fiancé, she’ll introduce him to all of her well-connected relatives. But the more time they spend together, the more the irresistible attraction between them builds.